[pathfinder] Mount trouble

[Arillius]

Alright so I'm in a campaign thats rather difficult and realistic in that things are hard and survival is harder. Having something that might slow the team down risks getting us killed, and we never know where we'll end up going in some situations.

So I want to take a cavalier level, and I like the idea of a mount. But if we need to climb a mountain, or go into a dungeon, or any other number of things I haven't thought off, it becomes a liability. I could let it go into the wild, hope when I have time to perform the ritual to get a new one I'm close enough to it or its nearby, if the dm gives me a cool mount, or simply release and get a new one.

Is there anyway though, using only pathfinder and advanced guide, to avoid having to release it? Maybe a way to get it into the dungeon, or ensure when we go into that castle and end up running out the back I can call it to me. Or get it up that mount, assuming its horse or something else that probably can't climb that well.

[Coidzor]

Only pathfinder? Not I anyway.

And since climbing a mountain is a serious logistical impediment for your party, I'm guessing you're either too low of a level to get a flying mount or your DM would nix a flying mount out of hand.

If you're a Small-sized character, you might be able to negotiate for a climbdog, as they do come in medium-sized varieties (don't know if there's a pathfinder version of them, last I know of them was in the Arms and Equipment Guide), so it could climb the mountain with your party.

What level are you all?

The 3.pathfinder made me think initially that if you were high enough level you could take the dragon steed feat and get it to work with your mount, possibly with a slightly higher penalty to effective level for mount benefits.

[Arillius]

Lvl 3 now, I'm planning on taking the cavalier level at 5. I can't say what the future will brng my character in the way of mounts.

[Greenish]

I must object this usage of "3.PF". If you use just PF material, use "PF" (because the fact that PF is derived from 3.5 D&D is commonly known). Many people mix PF and 3.5 materials, and "3.PF" makes it sound like you're one of them.

Just a pet peeve.


Now, if your character was small, a medium flying mount would be ideal (it'd fit anywhere the party fits), but I have hard time thinking of any medium flying animal. Maybe a giant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/simple-template-giant-cr-1) eagle (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/avians/eagle).

Large creatures can squeeze themselves to spaces comfortable for a medium creature, so a large mount with appropriate movement modes could follow you to a dungeon, but you couldn't use it as a mount there.

Of course, 3.5 had feats for moving and riding in narrow spaces, not to mention Ashworm Dragoon. :smalltongue:

[Arillius]

I hadn't realized thats what 3.pathfinder meant.

Anyway, at the moment flying mounts are out. Most likely I'll be getting a horse or camel. I might try and convince the DM to let me get a bear, which would solve cave's and climbing. But then there's those times I can't bring it into the city because it might be trouble, or I'm forced to leave it behind for some other reason.

Edit: Of course there's no rules for large bear animal companions. Damn.

[Rasman]

the BEST way for getting a mount "into" things or places is Reduce Animal, you either need a Druid or a Wand it seems.

the only other way is to play a Small Race and having something like a Riding Dog, so you don't have to worry about it

Frankly, I'd do Paladin instead of Cavalier since they just summon their Mounts if you're wanting something martial

[notagain111]

If you get a horse or other large size mount, there's always the basic Squeezing rules to get into a dungeon, which can be found on this page:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat
As for scaling mountains, have the wizard cast fly on the horse and ride it, perhaps? I doubt your party wizard (assuming you have one) will be a competent climber without some sort of spells. Alternatively, you can search for another path up or if you have a big enough Bag of Holding you could just stuff it inside while you do the climbing, opening the bag to let it breathe regularly.

I once toyed around with the idea of a Dwarven paladin who had some sort of Tunnel Fighting feat for himself and on his mount which negates the squeezing penalties, so that might be an option if its in Pathfinder (haven't checked).

[Akal Saris]

You could also hire a squire for 1s a day or so, whose job is to hold the horse's reins while you go scaling mountains.

[Arillius]

the BEST way for getting a mount "into" things or places is Reduce Animal, you either need a Druid or a Wand it seems.

the only other way is to play a Small Race and having something like a Riding Dog, so you don't have to worry about it

Frankly, I'd do Paladin instead of Cavalier since they just summon their Mounts if you're wanting something martial

Reduce Animal, that's an interesting idea. Small race is out, been through 3 characters already. And paladins are....special in the DM's game. I don't want to go near those. There not bad...but confusing.



If you get a horse or other large size mount, there's always the basic Squeezing rules to get into a dungeon, which can be found on this page:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat
As for scaling mountains, have the wizard cast fly on the horse and ride it, perhaps? I doubt your party wizard (assuming you have one) will be a competent climber without some sort of spells. Alternatively, you can search for another path up or if you have a big enough Bag of Holding you could just stuff it inside while you do the climbing, opening the bag to let it breathe regularly.

I once toyed around with the idea of a Dwarven paladin who had some sort of Tunnel Fighting feat for himself and on his mount which negates the squeezing penalties, so that might be an option if its in Pathfinder (haven't checked).

I looked for thinks like that, nothing at the moment. Fly might be an option, the group wizard would probably get it. Thank you for those rules. The bag of holding, its a very low magic campaign.


You could also hire a squire for 1s a day or so, whose job is to hold the horse's reins while you go scaling mountains.

If we're scaling a mountain its likely we aren't coming back. And considering what side we're on, I wouldn't trust any squire with my mount. They'd steal it. Or eat it. or steal it and sell it for food.

[Kaldrin]

Would the GM be open to an figurine of wondrous power as your mount? Or even just give it the periodically turns into a small statue version of itself ability?

[Swordguy]

The problem with the Cavalier is that, RAW, the only mount you can get as a medium-sized creature is either a camel or a horse. That's it. No pegasi, hippgriffs, dragons, or any other miscellaneous flying or size-changing critters. Yes, the entry does mention that, "The GM might approve other animals as suitable mounts", but that's going to be between the OP and his GM - our opinions aren't going to help on this one.

My wife played a Cavalier in a PF campaign a little while ago, and ran into the same issue. She eventually got the GM to rule that she could "summon" her mount in the same manner as a paladin. It's not like it's an especially game-breaking ability, after all.

[Gamer Girl]

A mount should not be that much of a liability. In general, you should not need to 'climb a mountain' at like the drop of a hat.

It's not so hard to hire a squire to take care of the horse. Then they can watch it while your in the dungeon.

If your DM really likes to do the 'oh you need to go to place X and the only way to get there is the 'seven mile tightrope over the lake of lava', you might just want to fight back: ''We need to go to Ord..we can climb the mountain in a week or ride around to the Pass of Hope and take six weeks...lets take six weeks'.

Your a bit too low of level to do any of the 'fixes'.

[Arillius]

I want to thank you all for suggestions but its been brought to my attention that at level 5, with odds that usually having us fighting for our lives, my mount will only have at the very most 16 hp. Low odds for it making it to a city or cave I can't get through.

[Thothmose]

At 4th level of cavalier you could take the "Horse Master" feat where you use your character level insted of cavalier level to determine your mounts powers and abilities.

To help it survive make sure you have mounted combat, have some decient barding ready (it will have to take proficency feats) and you might have it take toughness as a feat as well. If you only use light armor (or use the Emmisary Cavalier Archatype you can use medium armor) and take trick riding you can make 2 ride checks per round to negate hits to your mount as well.

[StreamOfTheSky]

The REAL problem with Cavalier is that, RAW, it is impossible to get a flying mount. Not even the Beast Rider can. There's a cavalier PC in one of my games right now faced with just this problem. He ended up using Handle Animal, money, and a fairly lenient DM to train a hippogriff, and now his mount feature seems kind of pointless.

Best bets are to use the Leadership feat for a cohort mount, or have an ally with spells to give your mount fly or climb.

Horse Master is a great feat to just get a tough mount, if you don't care about the mobility problem. If your DM is cool, since "mounted feat" is kind of a poorly/un-defined classification, you might be allowed to pick up Horse Master w/ only one level in Cavalier by dipping Sohei Monk. Sohei can get "mounted feats" as monk bonus feats, and thus ignore requirements (this is also nice for grabbing Mounted Skirmisher or Trick Riding early).

[Ravenica]

Best bet is to get your DM to ok a hippogriff, the Cavaliers mount ability specifically has a caveat to allow it and the hippogriff is the cheapest to acquire and the best animal intelligence flying mount. Point out that it's CR is the same as a heavy horse (horse is CR 1, heavy horse has the advanced template making it CR 2)

The cost for an egg is 200gp (cheaper than a heavy horse) and healthy young specimen is 500gp. A cavalier can train it better than pretty much any other character class

[stack]

Sable company marine ranger gets a hippogriff companion. Might be worth a look, toss on boon companion to get it up a few levels. Your effective druid level would stack with cavalier levels.

[navar100]

Try Samurai instead. You can pick one of the Cavalier Orders to use and not have to worry about a mount at all. What good is having a mount if you never get to use it because of the terrain you're in?